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Orangeville council partners with HCIA to evaluate community grants

May 16, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

Headwaters Communities in Action (HCIA) has had 20 years of bringing people together to shape a thriving community.

That’s the group’s mission statement, and many charities, organizations, and causes have been served well since HCIA’s inception in 2004.

Jennifer Payne, the executive director at HCIA, shined some light on its community grants program during Orangeville council’s May 13 meeting.

“The projects that we support serve a long-term vision of community well-being,” she said.

The group’s primary charitable purpose is to do research, education, engagement, and action on community priorities. That’s accomplished through collaboration, connections, and community conversations, she said.

There are many things that go into considering each application.

There are certain areas in which the applicant can influence the overall quality of the application. There are other factors that are considered that are out of the influence of applicants, she said.

“Then we have to layer onto that considerations like the amount of funds available or allotted for the community grants program,” Payne said. “The mix of project types.

“While it’s not necessarily [that] we’re trying to fit a number of key areas, we do like to try to spread the finds around for different purposes and for different sub-populations.”

Other budget factors that are weighed include partially funding a project when possible.

The last round of applications to the HCIA yielded high-quality applications for a pool of limited funds. While the volume of applications was of a typical year, the requests were for four times the available funds.

The total available money was $56,800 in 2024. The total funds requested was $231,204.

She said the assessment team suggested another workshop to assist prospective applicants with writing for grants.

The timeline for assessments was tight, she said.

“I know that’s just a function of where it fell on the schedule,” Payne said.

The process will be revisited in 2025, she said.

“It was a learning experience for all of us as well,” she said. “I hope that we’ve done you proud in our project for you.”

“I know that was a huge ask to try and give everybody a little something and I think you did it very thoughtfully,” Mayor Lisa Post said.

Deputy Mayor Todd Taylor said he’d like to see council’s relationship with HCIA continue regarding evaluating applications and making recommendations for awarding grants.

“I just think the process makes sense with you versus with, I hate the word politician, but with the politicians,” Taylor said. “It’s much better if it’s from a third party.”

Payne said both council and HCIA experienced a learning curve.

“I know that the pressure is on many organizations to seek as much money as possible,” Councillor Joe Andrews said. “The difficulty we have in today’s society is that there’s just not as much money as there once was for many of these organizations.”

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